One of the most complex topics for students learning Italian as a foreign language is the structure of compound tenses, in particular regarding auxiliary selection and agreement rules. This paper focuses on the Italian passato prossimo (e.g. ho visto, è andato) and proposes a multi-stage approach for teaching the passato prossimo in introductory language courses. The main goal of this talk is to propose a comprehensive approach that facilitates learning by integrating the complexity of the operations involved in the formation of the passato prossimo within a communicative frame.

I propose that learning to use the passato prossimo can be enhanced if structured in stages that include two main components: (i) students establish meaningful connections between the verb forms and real actions (past participle formation being included in this stage), and (ii) students identify patterns of auxiliary selection and agreement by looking at relevant examples. Building on a comparison of Italian beginners’ manuals, this study shows the insufficiency of relying solely on the distinction between transitive and intransitive verbs to teach auxiliary selection (as shown in Burzio 1986; Sorace 2000, 2004, among others). When the verb has a direct object, avere is selected as auxiliary, whereas when there is no direct object, both essere and avere can occur. In these cases, it is important to show the students that when essere is selected, the subject is the entity affected by the action, and this is not the case with avere. By inviting students to relate auxiliary selection with verb meaning, we adopt a more intuitive and content-based approach. Finally, in this paper I present sets of exercises in order to exemplify my multi-stage proposal.